


Your Longest Night Mom

by rarefiedrest



Category: Night In The Woods (Video Game)
Genre: Christmas, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Holidays, LGBTQ Themes, inspired by Your Holiday Mom, longest night, some light MaeBea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 04:16:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17093870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarefiedrest/pseuds/rarefiedrest
Summary: After Mae shows her a new website, Candy Borowski writes an open letter and becomes everyone's 24-hour-a-day mom for Longest Night.





	Your Longest Night Mom

“Hey Mom,” Mae said as she hopped up on the kitchen counter. “Have you heard about this ‘Your Longest Night Mom’ thing?”

“Hey hon,” Candy said, not looking up from her book. “I thought we established that I’m your mom _all_ the time.”

“No, it’s like a website?” Mae grabbed a banana from the counter and started to peel it, still talking. It was still a little green, so peeling it took some effort. “Moms write these open letters to LGBTQ people who can’t hang out with family on Longest Night for whatever reason, like if they got kicked out or something? And then they publish them on this website. It’s pretty cute.”

Candy was quiet for a long moment. When Mae looked up from gnawing her banana open, she was surprised to see that her mother looked a little teary. “Oh my god, Mom, are you okay?”

“I just don’t understand how somebody could do that to their child,” Candy said. She put her book face-down on the table and dabbed at her eyes with a napkin.

Mae was horrified. Mae knew her mom always got a little emotional around Longest Night, but she hadn’t expected such a strong reaction. “What, write a letter?”

“No, kick them out on the street.” Candy pressed her lips together until they practically disappeared. “To think that somebody could have a child and then just abandon them because of who they love or who they are… I just can’t imagine it. How awful. It makes me so mad I could spit.” Candy sniffled a little and picked up another napkin.

“It’s really crappy, yeah.” Mae thought about Gregg, whose parents hadn’t spoken to him for a month after he told them he was gay, and about Angus, whose parents were… actually, she wasn’t sure if they knew he was gay. She was just glad he didn’t live with them anymore.

Candy looked at Mae hard. “Baby, you know even though you and I have had our differences, they’ve never been because of your sexuality, right?”

Mae had come out to her parents in high school. She had planned to do it in person, but then she chickened out and sent them a text message that said, “I like girls and guys and people who are neither, please don’t hate me.” Then she turned off her phone and spent a hyped-up, anxious evening knife-fighting with Gregg after school. When she got home, her parents had gone to bed, but there was a plate of rainbow sugar cookies on the table next to a note that said “We love you always. Love, Mom and Dad.” _Both_ of her parents had signed it; usually Candy just signed for both herself and Stan. Mae had cried.

For a trash mammal, she really did have great parents.

“I know, Mom. They’ve always been because I was being a dumb jerk.”

“Your dad and I love you so much, just the way you are.”

“I know, Mom. Even when ‘just the way I am’ is a dumb jerk.”

Candy laughed, looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. “Hoooo. Okay. I think I’m good. Go get your computer and show me that website!”

Mae hopped down and headed upstairs. “Okay, but you’re probably gonna cry again,” she called over her shoulder.

“Oh, I’ll be fine.”

* * *

 

“…and then she read a bunch of letters and cried for like half an hour,” Mae said, taking a noisy sip of her Snack Falcon slush. She and Gregg were crouched behind the Snalcon counter eating stolen provisions, as per usual, a week after Mae had shown her mom the Longest Night Mom site.

“I don’t blame her,” said Gregg, glancing up over the counter to make sure no customers had come in. “Those letters are emotional dynamite. I caught Angus drinking tea and scrolling that website last night and it was like it had started raining. But like, just on his face.”

“Ugh, poor Angus. What are you guys doing for Longest Night?”

“We might do dinner with my family. Angus is gonna hang out with his mom overnight next week, but he won’t be there on the actual _day_ , you know?” Gregg crunched on some stolen pretzels. “It’ll be quiet and weird at my folks’, but not bad.”

Mae winced. “Sounds fun. If you guys want to, you can come to dinner at my parents’ house. My mom specifically asked me to invite you.”

“Before or after reading all those letters to sad gay kids?”

“Does it matter?”

“No. We’re sad gay kids. We’ll be there.”

“Great! It’ll be fun.” Mae smiled and stood up to get some more slush out of the machine. Just then, the electronic bell on the Snack Falcon door rang as someone came into the store.

Gregg shot up so fast that he hit his head on a lottery ticket display. “Shit!” And then, equally loud, “Welcome to the Snalcon!”

“Honestly, I have no idea how you stay employed here,” said Bea, casting a disapproving eye at Mae, who was standing frozen near the slush machine. “Mae, I’m not a dinosaur. I can see you.”

Mae relaxed. “Damn, thought that might work. What are you doing here? Did you close the store?”

Bea raised her eyebrow. “Good to see you too.”

“You know what I mean.” Bea practically lived behind the counter at the Ol’ Pickaxe, and the place only closed on Longest Night or in dire emergencies.

“Germ is watching the place. He’s not great with customers, but he’s a genius with inventory,” Bea said. She pulled out her phone. “Gregg, what’s the wifi password here?”

“Classified.”

“Screw you.”

“No, really. It’s ‘Classified’, capital C. Angus set it.”

“Ah, okay. Sorry.” Bea started typing furiously on her phone.

“S’okay,” said Gregg. “What’s going on?”

“Mae, you need to see this.” Bea held out her phone, and Mae could see that the browser had landed on the Your Longest Night Mom website.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve actually seen it before. Isn’t it great? I showed it to my mom the other day.”

“No,” Bea said impatiently. “Look.”

Mae looked. The latest post was titled "Your Longest Night Mom: Mom Candy."

“Oh my god,” she said. “Is this my mom? Like, my actual mom?”

“Looks that way,” said Bea. “She refers to you in the first paragraph. Not by name, though. I don’t think that’s allowed.”

“Yay for relative privacy, I guess,” said Mae. She paused. “Wait. Why were you on the Your Longest Night Mom site?”

“Do we _actually_ need to have the ‘my mom died’ conversation again, Mae?”

“Oh, shit, no,” said Mae, feeling horribly embarrassed for her drunken self from a few weeks before. “But… those letters are mostly for queer people, aren’t they? Like, obviously, they’re on the Internet, so anybody can read them, and if you like them and they make you happy then you _should_ read them, but does it feel weird? Like—”

“Uh, Mae,” Gregg interrupted, “Bea is bi.”

Mae’s mouth dropped. “ _What._ ”

Bea moved her dummy cigarette to the other side of her mouth. “Um, yeah. Been bi the whole time. I came out to Angus and Gregg and Jackie while you were away at school. I thought you knew, honestly.”

“How would I have known?” Mae’s heart was doing a weird flippy thing that made her wonder if she should go see a doctor or just run several miles and forget about it.

Bea shrugged. “I thought Gregg told you.”

“And I thought Bea told you,” Gregg said.

“Besides,” Bea added, “it’s not like I hide it. From anybody but my dad, anyway.” She shuddered. “I am _not_ ready for that conversation.”

Mae decided she would think about the swelling inside her chest later. Hope? Indigestion? Who could tell? “Uh… Okay, sorry I assumed, Bea. What’s the letter say?”

Bea shrugged. “I don’t know. When I connected the dots I came over here to tell you.”

“How’d you know I’d be here?”

Bea snorted. “You always end up either here or at the Pickaxe at the end of the day, and you weren’t at the Pickaxe.”

“That… is fair. Let me read it.”

“I wanna read it too!” Gregg and Mae jostled for the phone. Bea pulled it just out of their reach.

“Now, now, kids, don’t fight,” she said flatly, rolling her eyes. “Obviously the fairest way to handle this _incredibly important issue_ is for someone to read it out loud.”

Mae and Gregg stopped wrestling, looked at each other for a moment, and nodded. “That sounds fair,” Mae said. “Who’s gonna read?”

Gregg pulled his phone out of his pocket and pulled up a chat app. “Hang on. I know the person with the best reading voice in Possum Springs.”

“How do you know Selmers?” Mae asked.

“Huh?” Gregg’s phone buzzed. “Oh, good. Angus is on his way over from work.”

“Oh, yeah,” Mae said. “That makes more sense. I really should introduce you to Selmers one of these days, though.”

“He’ll be a few minutes.” Gregg turned to Bea. “You want a slush? It’s on the house.”

Bea sighed. “I shouldn’t encourage you, but actually, a coffee would be great if you’re giving them out. That’s basically the same principle, right?”

“Basically!”

Once Angus arrived and Gregg and Mae had filled him in on all the necessary details—Bea mostly stood by and held up her phone—they all gathered around the Snack Falcon counter and listened as he read.

 

_Hi honey,_

_We’re so glad you’re spending this Longest Night with us! Our 20-year-old daughter will be here for the first time in a couple of years, too; my husband Stan and I are just so happy to have a family holiday again. (Feel free to call us Mom and Dad, or just by our first names. Whatever makes you feel comfortable and happy.) I’ll get off work a little early and come pick you up from the bus station!_

_Dad won’t get off his shift at the grocery store until late. I’ll probably go to bed before he gets home, but if you stay up to say hi I bet he’ll be so happy to see you! He might ask you to watch some_ Garbo and Malloy _with him. It’s okay if you go to bed early too, though; he’ll be happy to see you in the morning, and it’ll be good for you to get some rest after your trip._

_In the morning, we’ll make pancakes. My daughter sleeps late, but when she wakes up you two can go to Towne Centre to look at all the decorations. The Ol’ Pickaxe is doing a big window display this year!_

_When you get home, we can all decorate the tree together. I’ll play your favorite Longest Night music and bake cookies—eat as many as you want (before Dad and our daughter get to them)!_

_After all the ornaments are on the tree, we can all snuggle up and watch some classic Longest Night movies. My daughter will probably want to watch the_ Adina Astra _movie, and your dad will probably put on that action film that happens to take place on Longest Night. Personally, I’m a big fan of the classic, heartwarming black and white films, but I like all Longest Night movies. Let me know what your favorite is. If we don’t have it, I can run down to the Video Outpost Too and get it before you get here!_

_We can open one present on Longest Night, just like we always do. (No, I won’t tell you what it is—that would spoil the surprise!) In the morning, before Dad and my daughter wake up, I can make you a cup of coffee or tea and we can have a nice chat about anything you want. I want to know all about your life this past year._

_You should know that it’s okay to think about things that make you sad at this time of year. I know it can be lonely to feel sad when lots of other people look like they’re having a great time, and I’m sorry that people in your life have maybe made you feel like you’re alone. I love you no matter what, and I am always here for hugs if you want them._

_Once the sleepyheads are awake, we can open presents! Then we’ll get started on cooking. Dad is grilling a turkey this year, which we’ve never done before. You can help me in the kitchen if you want—I can always use an extra pair of hands—but if you’d rather help Dad with the grill or watch movies with our daughter, that’s great too! I think some of our daughter’s friends are going to join us for dinner. If you’d like to invite people as well, just let me know: the more, the merrier!_

_We’re so happy you’re going to be here, honey. We love you so much exactly as you are, and we are so glad you’re part of our family. Happy Longest Night, my precious child!_

_Love,_

_Mama Candy_

 

Mae still hadn’t quite mastered the art of crying quietly.

“Why are _you_ crying?” Bea asked, trying and failing to clean up her eyeliner. “She’s _your_ mom.”

“Because I don’t deserve her,” Mae sobbed. She stopped for a moment, made an ugly snorting sound and kept crying.

“You should wake up earlier in the morning,” Angus said, cleaning some fog off his glasses.

This started a fresh wave of tears. “ _I should!_ ”

“Raise your hand if you’re going to Mae’s mom’s for Longest Night dinner,” Gregg said, scrubbing at his left eye with his fist. He and Angus raised their hands.

Bea hesitated. “I’m not sure if he’ll want to, but if my dad’s up for it, can he come?”

“Yeah, Bea. He and my dad can talk about… the Smelters, I guess? Maybe nails? Hammers?”

Bea raised her hand. “Yeah, he’ll like that.”’

“Great.” Bea held Mae’s gaze a little longer than usual.

Mae stopped crying, abruptly wishing she didn’t have snot all over her face. “Can I get a napkin, please?”

Gregg handed her one from the self-serve hot dog area. “Happy Longest Night!”

“Thanks, buddy.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by the work of lots of good moms at YourHolidayMom.com. If you, too, are a sad LGBTQ+ kid, or if you'd just like to read some really sweet open letters from people who want to open their hearts and homes, you may want to check that site out.


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